The Battle for Reach
by the Wolf at Bay
Summary: Red Team, comprised of 23 Spartan-II's, and the 501st ODST Battalion, fight to defent Reach from the Covenant. Admiral Whitcomb and Lt. Commander Keyes, try deperately to stop the Covenant in space. A remake of this epic battle.
1. Chapter 1

_1345 Hours Mission log entry UNSC/MC/ODST 00231. Designation 2__nd__ Platoon, Alpha Company, 501__st__ Battalion, 14__th__ Regiment, 3__rd__ Airborne Division. Location: Reach, March 13__th__, 2552, MAC V Generator Stations._

"What happened here Senior Chief?" asked the First Sergeant in charge of Alpha Company.

Though he was technically the same rand as the Senior Chief Petty Officer, his orders from CINC REACH made it abundantly clear that the Spartans on the ground had command, even the Major currently commanding the 501st was taking orders from Senior Chief Petty Officer 103.

"We did our job top, and killed every single thing that got in our way." Answered the Senior Chief.

The two NCO's were standing in the same insta-crete bunker that had been hastily erected as 103's command post once they had rallied Red Team. It was still a little soft, and now heavily scarred by plasma burns. Two full Battalions of Covenant had tried to overrun the generator facilities below, only to be slaughtered like sheep by the 23 Spartan-II's under 103's command. There were pockmarked bodies of Covenant soldiers everywhere, dozens of wrecked Ghosts, half a dozen smoking Wraiths, and twenty-odd fallen Banshees. It seemed like whatever the Covies had thrown at them, Red Team had killed it, for over four hours non-stop, until the Brutes arrived.

The Brutes were a Covenant race as yet un-encountered by humans, therefore the Spartans of Red Team had been ill prepared to face a beast the size of a hunter, twice as strong as an Elite, and damned near impossible to kill. There had only been one company of Brutes, around thirty or so, but it had nearly been the end of Red Team, until the 501st had jumped feet first into hell.

The famous Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Regiment had been fast deployed from the UNSC Valliant, in an effort to reinforce the Spartan Team defended the massive generators that powered the MAC V space cannons. Those massive guns were the only things protecting Reach from over 300 Covenant capital ships. There were whole divisions of Covenant on the ground trying to get to those generators, but each 23 Spartans, well supported, was enough to stop damn near anything. The support could have been better, but the Spartans were still there.

The Drop Shock Troopers, known as ODST's or Helljumpers, had arrived just in time to aid the Spartans of Red Team, who had been running low on ammo, and reduced to fighting the Brutes hand-to-hand. With fresh ammo and fresh boots on the line, Red Team, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta Companies had managed to finish off the Brutes and remaining Covenant Armor.

First Sergeant Vega had formally been the senior NCO in Alpha Company, working for Sergeant Major Price. Unfortunately for the Sergeant Major, his drop pod had landed on a Wraith Tank, destroying the tank, and killing the Marine in the pod. So First Sergeant Vega had been promoted to acting Sergeant Major. One hundred and fifty Helljumpers, fully loaded and armed to the teeth, were now hard at work, well organized, fortifying the bunkers, scavenging ammo, and performing reconnaissance of the surrounding woods. This was home turf for the 501st and the Spartans, both units had spent years training in these woods, and both units called Reach "Home".

"Red 1 this is Red 14, heavy enemy movement on bearing 120 from your position, estimate company strength or more, please advise, over."

"Red 14 this is Red 1, Observe and Avoid. Over."

Observe and Avoid meant that Spartan 72, designated Red 14, would follow the Covenant forces, remaining unseen, and report back any and all useful information.

"Alpha 1-2, pull back to the bunker, Alpha 1-1 cover 1-2, all Bravo Units RTB and arm up, Charlie and Delta, cover Alpha and Bravo."

First Sergeant Vega ordered his recon teams, Alpha Company First Platoon, first and second squads, to full back to the bunker, while Bravo Company, whose squads had been scavenging weapons and ammo, returned to base immediately and the two remaining ODST companies covered them. In just under two minutes, all hundred and fifty ODST's were inside the bunkers, rifles in hand, ready to unleash a hailstorm of lead.

Senior Chief 103 currently had Red -3, -5, -12, -14, -17, and -22 out on recon missions, they were all monitoring their radios, and knew what he knew, the rest of Red Team was in the bunker below, concentrating on the weak points of the ODST formation.

"All Red Recon Units, pull back to base." As soon as -103 gave the command, six Spartans appeared from the tree line, fully 750 meters out, and sprinted to the bunkers in record time.

-103 opened a channel to all UNSC forces.

"Listen up people, we have at least a company of Covenant headed our way, probably more. Concentrate fire on the Grunts and Jackals, let the snipers worry about the Elites. Once the front lines are halfway across the field, we're gonna hit 'em with a wall of hot lead."

While -103 had been speaking, the first ranks of grunts had run out of the treeline, charging towards the bunkers and firing wildly, killing some of their own in the process.

"Prepare to fire…. DROP EM!"

On Senior Chief Spartan 103's command, 150 Assault Rifles, 12 Sniper rifles, 5 Jackhammer Rocket Launchers, and 6 Chain guns opened fire on the Covenant lines.

"Senior Chief, this is Red 5 on your six, we have a huge problem!"


	2. Enter Brutes

_Mission Log/ CLASSIFIED/// Location/Reach/MAC V Generator Complex/1100 Hours /March 13__th__, 2552_

**3 hours before the 501****st**** jump.**

Spartan -103 Tom stood atop his command bunker, using a sight from his sniper rifle to survey the battle ground before him. There was approximately 750 meters from here to the tree line in all directions, which meant his Spartans would have a good view of any incoming forces. The problem was that Red Team had been split up, Spartan -104, Fred, had taken a select team to play a little nuclear offence against the Covenant Cruiser in the next Valley. He'd also sent several Spartans to extract Admiral Whitcomb and his staff. While Tom knew it was important, he was an admiral, he still detested the misuse of vital Spartans to go on a milk run.

Tom turned at a broadcast from their satellite uplink.

"This is Lt. Commander Keyes to any UNSC forces, any Human forces please respond. Over."

The only officer named Keyes that Tom was aware of in this system was Captain Keyes, perhaps they were related.

"Commander, this is Spartan -103, groundside, reading five by five. Over."

"Spartan, give me a SitRep now! Over."

"Yes Ma'am! I'm groundside with 23 Spartans defending the generators powering the MAC guns. Three of my team, including my commander, are mounting a nuclear assault in low orbit, five of my team are on a mission to extract Admiral Whitcomb and his staff. Over."

"Good to hear Spartan, ONI received classified intel about an impending attack on Reach. Given the security of the other Inner Colonies, I was dispatched on the UNSC Valliant, an experimental cruiser, along with the destroyers O'Bannon, and Merryweather, and the frigates Independence, Freedom, Enterprise, Endeavor, Atlantis, Discovery, Challenger, and Columbia. My orders are to secure the space around Reach until a Cruiser task force arrives in system, to do that I need those MACs, and Admiral Whitcomb, I'm sending in a Pelican to extract him, with a Longsword escort, if you need anything bombed, tell me now. Over."

"Yes Ma'am, we'll have target packages lined up for the pilots, please note, we do not have a location on the Admiral at this time, my team is maintaining radio silence for fear of assassination. Over."

"Good move Spartan, I'll send the birds anyway, maybe they can help you out- fire!- sorry about that, one less Covenant ship for us to worry about. We have two corvettes who will handle in atmosphere support, A.I. Patton will brief you on that shortly, also, ace in the hole, I have the 501st ready to drop when needed. Over."

"Thank you ma'am, I want to hold off on the ODSTs until we really need them, no need to let enemy recon know our numbers when we can surprise them. Over."

"Roger that -103, its getting hot and heavy over here, the Pelican is loaded with techs, get them to work fixing the damaged generators, over and out."

Tom opened a link to Red Team.

"Good news Spartans, we have a cruiser in the vacuum and more on the way, we also have Longswords and Corvettes for air support. All we have to do is hold out till it gets here, -53, -75,-36, and -29, rendezvous with the team extracting the Admiral, forget radio silence, get them back here, we have a Pelican inbound to extract him and his staff."

Four blue acknowledgement lights winked on in the Senior Chiefs HUD.

With close air support, and an actual objective, instead of just trying to survive, their odds of success had increased tenfold.

"Ok Spartans, dig in and load up, we got a whole lot of shit, and it's coming right at us."

Motion trackers set up around the tree line were almost completely red, which meant a huge force was inbound on their position. Just as Red Team prepared to begin sniping, a huge flash from the east blinded them completely. Once they had their eyesight back, Tom noticed that the motion sensor contacts had been cut in half, in the back. Fred must have gotten his nukes off.

When Spartan -103 looked up, it was to see Elites running full bore at the bunkers from the southeastern side.

"All Spartans, OPEN FIRE!"

On que 23 MA5B automatic assault rifles started pouring 7.62 caliber ammunition towards the oncoming Elites. Shields flared bright silver and then failed, making way for purple splashes that announced aliens were dying. However the hail of lead was not enough to stop the Elites, who were dying and being trodden into the ground by their brethren, baying for the blood of the Demons.

"OK Spartans, time for some fireworks, Katya, hit the mines when ready."

Spartan -001 Katya, was a Russian by ancestry, and was fiendishly good with explosives. She had spent several hours laying dozens of Lotus anti-tank mines, and Antillean Cluster mine packs around the bunker complex, there was also a healthy dose of C-4 charges, and Spartan Bombs. Since the Spartans were almost always severely outnumbered, they had developed Spartan Bombs and fougasses. They hadn't had the equipment for fougasses, but the Spartan Bombs were no problem. C-12, C-4, B-comp, and SemTex had all been in the complex armory, the plastic explosives had been molded into convex rectangles, and had liberal amounts of spent shell casing, nuts, bolt, and small pieces of scrap metal duct taped onto the convex side. This way when they explode, tons of small pieces of metal are propelled towards the enemy at terminal velocity, causing a lot of damage.

As Katya pressed her triggers, over 300 lbs of high explosives detonated, propelling with the shockwave tons of shrapnel, right into the middle of the Covenant formations.

By the time the smoke cleared, the Covenant force was down by two thirds, the remainder disoriented and wounded, and easily put down but controlled fire from Red Team. They had survived round one, but now they were down to only the back-up charges, used to seal corridors, grenades, and rockets; plus two Achilles anti-air missiles on mobile launchers.

By normal Spartan standards they were very low on firepower, and very high on things to kill.

"Red 1 to Red Team, well done, RTB and resupply, get ready for round two. -001, how are we looking for explosives? Over."

"Sorry chief, but we are running low, apart from the corridor charges, we have a few pounds of C-4, maybe 1 pound of C-12 and another of Semtex. Over."

"Katya what would happen if we mixed those explosives together? Over."

"It'd make them more potent, but not by much. Over."

"Would a sheet half an inch thick, and 10 inches square, loaded with shrapnel, be enough to punch armor? Over."

"Well I don't know about full penetration, but it would certainly stop whatever it hits. Over."

"Get to work then, many as you can. Over."

"Aye aye Senior chief. Over and out."

"Red 4, get me the Commander on the uplink, I need to discuss some re-armament."

"Commander Keyes this is Spartan -103, I need a supply drop if one of your ships can, ammo and explosives would be much appreciated ma'am. Over."

"Copy that -103, frigate Endeavor is in position and hot dropping guns and bombs now, over."

As if on quo, ten or a dozen drop pods started burning through the atmosphere, landing half buried a klick to the west of the bunkers. Immediately 15 Spartans ran out and began dragging the pods back to the bunkers. Inside the pods were extra MA5B's, BR55's, SMG's, Sniper rifles, Spartan Lasers, Rocket Launchers, and Gauss Turrets that could be mounted to the bunkers. The last four pods contained over a thousand pounds of C-12, enough to make a square mile of Spartan Bombs.

Tom immediately set Katya and two other Spartans to work on the bombs, clearing out all extra shell casings and every bit of scrap from the machine shop, then burying them around the bunkers, along with 12 Antillean mine packs. The bunkers were now better defended than they had been before, except that it taken the Spartans four hours to prepare everything, and motion sensors indicated that another wave of Covenant was already inbound.

Tom set up his troops in the same fashion as before and, as before, they were doing a fair job of repelling the Elites, Grunts, and Jackals. He had decided to wait until the front enemy lines were nearly at the bunkers before he blew the Spartan Bombs, to achieve maximum effect. The plan worked perfectly, until the smoke cleared and a pack of large, ape-like aliens could be seen charging out of the tree line, screaming for blood. The Spartan snipers didn't even wait for orders before putting precision fire into the Apes, but it seemed only two headshots was enough to put them down, anything less and they just ran right though it, howling for blood.

"All Red units concentrate fire on those new guys, ignore the jacks and grunts for now. I want those hairy bastards taken down now!"

Controlled precision fire from 23 Spartans rained into the heads and chests of the new aliens, to very little effect, it seemed to take at least two .50 caliber sniper rounds to do the job. The large ape-like aliens were going down, but at the rate it was taking them, the main formation would reach the bunkers in less than 20 seconds.

"Katya blast 'em!!!"

Katya pressed her favorite button, and 500-odd pounds of C-12 lit up, propelling over two thousand spent shell casings into the covenant lines. It took down about half of the large aliens, but the twenty or so remaining just kept on coming, baying for the Spartans blood.

"Commander Keyes, this is Spartan -103, I need the 501st right now ma'am."

"Roger that -103, 501st is in bound and hot.

Roughly 160 miles above Red Teams position, UNSC Valliant was cruising at half thrust, firing her four MAC cannons as fast as the massive reactors could recycle the power, and cleaning up her victims with Archer Missile fire. The Valliant and her escorts had been joined by the fifteen or so ships left in system, and Commander Keyes regretfully noted that her father's ship Pillar of Autumn had jumped out of system already. Miranda Keyes would have gladly signed the entire task force and command of the entire star system over to her father, but without him in system, she would continue to kick ass to best of her abilities until Charlie Six-Niner returned with the Admiral and his staff.

"Lt. Reynolds all-ahead three quarters, those plasma torpedoes are too close for comfort."

"Aye aye Ma'am all-ahead three quarters."

"Weps, give me a firing solution on the nearest enemy cruiser, and bring all four Mac's to bear, I wanna send them a real message."

"Aye aye, firing solution for all four MAC's is online, firing in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Rounds away."

A series of four thumps rocked the Valliant as her over sized magnetic accelerator cannons hurled over a thousand tons of ferric iron into the nearest Covenant Super Cruiser.

"Cruiser down Ma'am, Confirmed kill-"

The rest of Lt. Stevens report was cut off by the defining roar of 18 MAC V shells screaming through space and obliterating 18 Covenant ships. The rest of Commander Keyes fleet let loose a flurry of MAC rounds, destroying or disabling a further 9 ships. There were now approximately 120 Covenant ships left in system, and they were holding well back out of range of the Big Sticks.

"Ma'am remaining Covenant vessels are holding just out of range of the MAC V's, we could move out to engage-"

"No way Lt. that amount of firepower would shred our fleet into molten slag, they're waiting for the ground forces to take out the generators, do we have estimates on enemy ground troops?"

"Negative Ma'am, could be a couple of divisions though."

"Lucky for us we have Spartans down there, spread the fleet in a defensive formation, and detail the Corvettes, and the Frigate Columbia to ground support roles."

"Aye aye Ma'am."

While her crew re-arranged the strategic posture of her fleet, Commander Keyes turned her attention to the Covenant fleet, it wasn't like them at all to worry about losses when taking a planet, in any normal situation the 150 Covenant ships would be plowing into her fleet, eager to die even to get a shot off at the MAC guns. It made exactly no sense for them to want to take the planet somewhat intact, but Miranda Keyes was a student of her father, and was going to press every advantage she had, which included the most advanced human ship in the galaxy, and the best trained ground forces in the universe. If the Spartans and the 501st couldn't hold out on the surface, there was no hope anyway.

"Commander Keyes this is Spartan -103, I need the 501st right now Ma'am!"

"Roger that -103, 501st is in bound and hot."

"Major D'Angelo, this is the bridge, prepare the Regiment for immediate emergency drop, now!"

"Aye aye Commander, we'll be off your lovely ship in 90 seconds."

"Roger that, be advised your dropping in VERY HOT."

"Thank you for the heads up Ma'am, that's just the way we like it."

Roughly a minute later 150 small thuds gently shook the ship as the 501st ODST Battalion jumped feet first into hell. With the Helljumpers away, Commander Keyes felt much more confident about the safety of the MAC V cannons. While she would have preferred dropping 150 Spartans onto Reach, ODSTs were the next best thing, and the 501st had a reputation for violence, and a thirst for revenge against the Covenant, providing they could get along with the Spartans, they were the perfect units to be trapped, surrounded, and outnumbered, like wolverines backed into a corner, the ground team would fight viciously to the death.


	3. The Lowdown

Hiya folks, I just want to take this opportunity to explain my story line and plot threads, and clear up some confusion over my whacky story.

First off a break down on where we are now:

The battle for Reach is about halfway through, of the original approx. 150 UNSC ships defending Reach, only around 25 remain. Pillar of Autumn has jumped to Halo. With 90% of the UNSC ships destroyed, as well as REACH HIGHCOM, Admiral Whitcomb is the ranking military officer in system, and is currently being located by a team of 4 Spartans. Kelly, Fred, and Joshua are on their mission to nuke to small Covenant Cruiser, and the subsequent destruction and massive Covenant ground presence will keep them on their own for a while. That leaves 23 of the original 30 Spartans that landed on Reach, successfully this time, in my story.

UNSC VALLIANT: we have had a startling amount of controversy over this ship, so here's the layout. It's the UNSC's super cruiser. Twice the tonnage of your average carrier, she sports 4 MAC Cannons, over 500 Archer Missile Pods, each holding a dozen warheads, 10 Shiva Nuclear-tipped missiles, and is powered by two massive reactors of the type sported by the Pillar of Autumn. She also sports a full 3 meters of Titanium-A armor, an energy deflecting reactive polymer coating similar to Spartan MJOLNIR armor, and low frequency electromagnetic interference generators, which interrupt the fields holding Plasma Torpedoes in shape, and direction. These generators are able to spoof Covenant Plasma Weapons, with small degrees of success. These refinement, and her sheer bulk, give the Valliant advantage over all other UNSC ships, and, combined with an exceptional set of officers on the bridge, give her a real fighting chance against the best capital ships of the Covenant Fleet.

Lt. Commander Miranda Keyes: Had initial command of Valliant for her outfitting and initial testing and demonstrations. She was slotted for the XO position, under Lord Hood. When remote sensing stations in other systems detected a mass in SlipSpace, FLEETCOM immediately tasked Valliant and her escorts to re-enforce Reach. Lord Hood remained in his posting as Commander of Earth's Defense Fleet.

Admiral Danforth Whitcomb: now the senior military officer in the Reach System, his primary objective is to get space side and secure the defense of reach. Lt. Commander Keyes has dispatched a Pelican to retrieve the Admiral and his staff, as well as the four Spartans extracting him from hostile territory.

Anything else that doesn't quite seem to link up with the story, is because I changed it, and that's how I want it. This is a completely AU story, it's going to go how I want it. Sorry if you don't like that. Please continue to read and leave your reviews, and if I get upset over a review you've left, please don't take it personally.

Thank you-

The WoLf At BaY.


	4. 117

_Date unknown. Approx time 0200 hours. Spartan mission log Alpha 269-Master Chief Spartan 117… On board Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliatio… En route to REACH from unknown system- CLASSIFIED ONI SECTION III keyword OMEGA_

Master Chief Spartan 117, John, entered the alien bridge of the Covenant cruiser Major Silva's Helljumper's had high jacked on Halo. The chief had to hand it to them, though they were no Spartans, the ODST's had done one helluva job. Unfortunately Major Silva had not survived the boarding, leaving Lt. McKay as the acting CO of the 502 ODST regiment, or what was the left of it. The five-oh-duece, as its members affectionately called it, had been ravaged by the Covenant and the Flood on Halo, but had still averaged a 20-1 kill ratio, the highest of any unit for a single engagement in the fleet, except John's Spartan team.

"Master Chief, glad you could join us." The voice belonged to Cortana, the AI from The Pillar of Autumn, pilot of the ship, and John's constant companion during the hellish struggle to get off of Halo.

"Status?"

"ETA REACH is just over 5 hours, however there's a complication."

"I hate complications." Chimed in Lt. McKay.

"What complication? The Covenant must have glassed REACH and moved on by now…" The Chief trailed off, refusing to admit that his entire team had been on REACH at the time.

"Long range sensors are picking up huge amounts of energy in the system indicating large-scale plasma fire," a pause "in addition to IFF tags designated as friendly"

"A friendly IFF? Has to be a derelict." This was McKay again.

"Not just one, fifteen presently in system, and roughly one hundred more en route in slipspace." Corrected Cortana.

"They're still fighting it out? How is that possible? No space battle has lasted this long, even the Harvest campaign was only two weeks, and that was over five systems."

"Chief it appears that my in-atmosphere slipspace jump inside Threshold's atmosphere may have caused some bizarre anomalies in relative time and space. Its all very complicated, and completely theoretical, but entirely plausible."

"So REACH is still there, there are still humans defending it, we have the most powerful warship ever piloted by humans, and my team could still be alive?" asked John.

"We also have 63 ODST Marines." Added McKay.

"That's correct Chief, Lt."

"Cortana divert power from all systems, weapons, shields, life-support I don't care, get us there as fast as this thing can possible fly!"

"With 100% power from the reactor dedicated to the Slipspace drive, estimated time or arrival is three hours, sixteen minutes." Replied Cortana.

"Not good enough, bring the reactor to 125% and recomputed." Barked the Chief.

"ETA REACH now two hours, twenty seven minutes… if the reactor doesn't go critical first."

"Just get us there Cortana. I'm not picky on how. Lt. McKay, may I request you brief your troops and get them battle ready? Last time we were here there were 300 ships attacking REACH, they're going to need every gun we have." The Chief worded his order as a request only because the Lt. outranked him, though they had come to a mutual understanding that the Master Chief was in charge.

The Lt. nodded and left the bridge to get her people ready, they had just escaped two weeks of hell, cheating death at every turn, and now she had to ask them to jump right back in.

"You think your team may still be alive?" asked Cortana now that they were alone.

"I know they are, and as long as there's one human left on REACH, I'm getting there to help."

"I agree John," said Cortana softly "might I suggest briefing the Pelican pilots? This tub isn't equipped with drop pods.

John nodded and silently left the bridge, hope filling his heart for the first time since he sent his only family to near-certain death.

_Mission log 220… approx. 0430 hours… UNSC Vallient, in high orbit over REACH… Cmdr. Keyes log…_

The UNSC Vallient truly was a special ship, for the last six hours she'd taken all the abuse the Covenant could throw at her and still sailed proudly through the smoke and fire infused vacuum around REACH. Burning hulls of massive ships crowed the entire local system, and made navigation a problem. Fortunately Cmdr. Keyes had one of the best bridge crews in the fleet. Her young officers were the best in their particular fields, and had the kill count to prove it.

Of course the fact that the Covenant were barely even trying to take REACH was a matter for another time. All that mattered now was protecting the MAC V guns, and praying that the ground team earned their reputation as two of the toughest units in the fleet. The Spartans were damned near invincible, and the only other unit even on par with the 501st was the 502nd, stationed on the Pillar of Autumn, God knows where.

"Commander we have incoming!" shouted LTJG. Evans.

"We have a whole damn system full of incoming Miss Evans."

"Ma'am yes ma'am, but this one is transmitting on one of our secure freqs."

"The cruiser task force already? Or a loner?" asked the Commander, hardly daring to hope that her reinforcements had arrived already.

"No Ma'am, definitely Covenant, heavy cruiser, but broadcasting on an ONI freq."

"Put it on speaker." Order the Commander.

"_This is Master Chief Spartan 117, authenticator alpha, kilo, delta, requesting contact with the Commanding Officer in system REACH, secure only."_

"Open a secure channel immediately!" Commander Keyes was practically salivating now, if that really was Master Chief 117, he had brought them a Covenant cruiser, a battalion of Helljumpers, and AI, and her father.

"Channel open Ma'am" reported the COMMS officer.

"Master Chief this is Commander Miranda Keyes on UNSC Vallient, currently commanding REACH FLEET. What's your status?"

"Ma'am I have a captured Cruiser, 63 ODST's of the 502nd, AI Cortana, and myself at your disposal ma'am. Standing by for deployment orders."

"And Captain Keyes?"

The was a full minute of silence on the channel…

**Groundside REACH**

The 501st and Red Team had been pounding the Covenant attackers with over three thousand 7.62mm rounds, Jackhammer rockers, and Lotus mines for six consecutive hours. There were all of them running on pure adrenaline now, having suffered only fifteen casualties for over a thousand of the enemy. Red 1 was starting to get worried though, there seemed no end to the Covenant infantry, and he was nearing the end of his eighth supply drop. Covenant air power was making it harder and harder for the Columbia to deliver the ammunition his team so desperately needed. The three frigates tasked to the ground effort had expended their armories and were concentrating on the Sereph fighters and smaller enemy ships in the area.

The Longswords, designated Knife flight, send by Commander Keyes had saved his life so many times he'd actually started a tally to keep count, but the supersonic fighters needed to dock and refuel and re-arm, which the Covenant were now using to their advantage.

"Heads up team, here we go again!"

Another wave of angry screaming aliens was charging out of the smoking wood line, having to literally climb over the carcasses of their slaughtered fellows, but coming none the less.

**Spaceside, UNSC Vallient**

"You've done a terrific job Miranda, I'm prouder of you than I can tell you, now its time to turn the heat up, I'd like you to transfer command of FLEET REACH to this ship, and allow Cortana to coordinate our ships."

Commander Keyes wiped a tear from her cheek at the sound of her father's voice, but her own was clear and steady as she informed her ships that they had a new commander and new orders.

Cortana began broadcasting orders to the remaining ships in system, arranging them into a defensive posture around the Big Sticks, which still allowed the Vallient and Truth and Reconciliation to attack the Covenant vessels.

**Spaceside, Truth and Reconciliation**

Sixty three Helljumpers and one lone Spartan loaded gear and themselves into the four Pelican drop ships in the cruisers bay, preparing for a bumpy ride groundside. Only tens of years of training and discipline prevented the Master Chief from opening and all-freqs channel to check on the men and women of Red Team.

"All right Marines, strap in and hold on, there's gonna be some turbulence."

The voice of Warrant Officer Carol Rawly, better known as Foehammer, was calm and controlled as ever, as she prepared to deliver a ship-load of Marines to their enemy. The Master Chief had worked with Rawly almost exclusively on Halo, and knew her flying abilities to be matched by no other non-Spartan pilot in the fleet. If anyone could get him and the ODST's through a thousand Covenant ships and fighters in one piece, it was Foehammer.

**Groundside, REACH**

"Red 1 this is Cpl. Stine with Alpha company, we have Pelicans inbound Sir."

"Pelicans? How many? And what in the hell for?" asked the Senior Chief.

"No idea sir, only thing coming over the freq is _OLY OLY OXEN FREE_, any ideas sir?"

But Red 1 was no longer listening, he was opening a channel to his Spartans.

"All Red Team units, we have four drop ships in bound, carrying at least one Spartan, lets clear the LZ now!"

As one every Spartan on REACH began pouring fire into the designated LZ, clearing out any infantry, then concentrating on suppressing any Covenant anti-air in the area. If there was a Spartan in bound, it was most likely the Master Chief, and they were all anxious to have their commander back.

**Echo 419, entering REACH atmosphere**

"Five to dirt, get ready guys, this ones gonna be real hot, even by our recent standards."

Marines stood and cocked rifles, readying grenades, and strapping on packs full of ammo, waiting for what they expected to be a mad dash firefight to cover, it was what Helljumpers were trained for after all.

"Touch down! Hit it Marines!"

Twelve Helljumpers and one Spartan thundered down the ramp as soon as it dropped, crouching into position to cover each other in the dust cloud caused by the landing. The last thing they were expecting was to be ringed in by Spartans, all facing inward and saluting as the Master Chief got to his feet.

**Spaceside, Truth and Reconciliation**

With Cortana directing the fleet, a further three Covenant ships were history, and the remnants of the original REACH FLEET were undergoing some much needed maintenance. The hundred or so remaining Covenant ships were holding back out of range, launching drop ships and fighters, only some of which were being intercepted by the fleet. They seemed determined to put more and more troops on the ground, and had sacrificed another carrier to initiate a massive landing. The ship had quickly been dispatched by plasma torpedoes from Captain Keyes' ship, as well as MAC rounds from his daughters, but Cortana estimated they had landed a few thousand troops. She could spare no more ships to support the Master Chief and his team, and long range sensors showed the task force from Earth was still nearly a day out.


	5. Danger close

_Mission Log: Entry 221- Spartan 117 (John) __**CLASSIFIED ONI CODEWORD**_

John looked over his Spartans, his family, nearly all of them. The only ones missing were Fred, Joshua, and Kelly, and the Blue team Tom had dispatched to secure the Admiral, who was tearing down alongside the Big Horn River at 100kmp in two Warthogs. Charlie two-six was on station waiting to make the pick-up, her 60 caliber chin gun, and 30 caliber wing guns, providing some delightful air support for Task force 141. Comprised of 24 Spartans, 150 ODSTs of the 501st, and 63 ODSTs of the 502nd, the 141 was fortifying their position above the generator complex, awaiting the next wave of Covenant warriors.

Space-side, Caption and Lt. Commander Keyes, respectfully, had the two most powerful ships in human history, the Valiant, and the Covenant Cruiser Truth and Reconcilliation, plus 15 of the UNSCs finest warships, all being expertly fought by the two stellar officers, and controlled with pin-point precision by Cortana, the UNSC's most advanced AI construct.

"Chief this is Capt. Keyes, come in please."

The Chief's comm link crackled with his favorite officers voice.

"This is -117, go ahead sir."

"Chief, I've got good intel that two tier-1 personalities are still ground-side on Reach."

"Sir, I was only aware of Vice Admiral Whitcomb?"

"I'd much rather do this over a secure channel, but you don't have the equipment for that son, the Vice Admiral is only a tier-2, I'm talking about the father of the finest military outfit in human history, and the woman responsible for our survival this far into the war."

"Sir?"

Only two people the Chief knew of seemed to fit the description, but he hardly dared to hope that the only two non-Spartans he might call family were still alive, and on this planet.

"Dr. Halsey, and CPO Mendez, are both reported MIA, last known position at ONI's Omega facility, I believe you know it?"

"Sir I have no knowledge of such a place."

The tone in the Master Chief's voice made it very clear that it was a pre-planned line, delivered automatically.

"I thought so Master Chief, recovery of tier-1 personalities is a priority tasking, recover the Doctor and the Chief as soon as possible. I'll provide any support that I can for you. The Covenant are making this too easy, they're waiting for something, I'm not sure what, but I'm betting it's not too surrender."

"Roger that Sir, my team will get them back."

"Glad to hear it son, just get them to the complex, I'll designate Echo-419 to do a pickup, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to spare any Longswords other than Knife flight, we have a few carriers up here that are pumping out fighters like you wouldn't believe, Columbia will be staying in mid-orbit to provide support, I need every other ship Chief, I'm sorry."

"We'll get it done sir, air support is for marines."

John heard the Captain chuckle before signing off the Comm. If Dr. Halsey and CPO Mendez were still alive, John was going to have his Spartans tear the planet apart looking for them. He would go himself, but until he was relieved, his primary focus had to be in holding the generators, if the Covenant over ran them, everyone on Reach was dead anyway.

"Chief this is Red-1, eyes on large enemy armor column, estimate a full regiment, headed are way, good mix of Tanks and Ghosts, plenty of infantry too, we're in real trouble, there must be over 40 tanks out here."

"Roger that Red-1, pull back to base."

"All units, fall back to the bunkers, we have heavy armor in bound, I want rockets to the top, and make sure those Guass turrets are ready to go, we have 40 plus armor units inbound."

The men and women of Task Force 141 ran to their tasks, loading rifles, prepping rockets, and powering up the mini magnetic accelerator cannons called Guass turrets, each silently wondering how an over sized battalion of infantry was supposed to hold a fixed position against a full armored regiment.

_**Space side, 1200 miles above Reach**_

Cortana was busily performing a large number of tasks at once. She was simultaneously monitoring all space in all directions 50,000 kilometers out from Reach, updating order and firing sequences to 9 frigates, 6 destroyers, one cruiser, and two corvettes, flying the Truth and Reconciliation, studying and modifying nearly every system on her ship, keeping an eye on Johns team on the ground, investigating the time displacement on her jump from Halo, using a secure channel to copy the Halo data to the Valiant's memory banks, and tracking the incoming task force from Earth. And all without breaking a sweat, she joked to herself.

Apparently though she had stretched herself a little too thin, as she had failed to notice the five ships moving locally through slipspace on the cruisers scanners specific to that purpose. She didn't know they were there until the Covenant carrier, surrounded by four destroyers, had dropped into normal space, behind the MAC V cannons.

By the time she had tasked every ship at her disposal to fire on the new arrivals, over 200 various drop ships, mostly from the carrier, had cleared the immediate area. Judging by her analysis of the different classes of ships, over half of them were armor transports, capable of carrying up to three Wraith tanks, or six Ghost's, each. Her mistake may have ended up costing them Reach, there was no way the Master Chief and his team could hold off an armored division, not with some serious help, which she was unable to provide.

"Master Chief this is Cortana, be advised, there is a Covenant armored division inbound to the surface."

"Say again Cortana?"

"I repeat, the Covenant are in the process of landing a division of armor approximately 200 kilometers north of your position. I'm sorry Chief, they used a pin-point short range slipspace jump to drop in behind our lines, by the time we took out her escorts, the troops were off the carrier."

"Roger, acknowledged, do we have any available armor in system?"

Cortana did a lightning fast check of every armory on Reach, and every ship in system, before answering the Chief."

"Negative Chief, the combined ships in system only have 23 Scorpion tanks available, and no way to get them on the surface other than in atmosphere drops, currently impossible. I'm sorry Chief, I don't have any options."

"Thank you for the update Cortana. Out."

Cortana returned to her various tasks, wondering briefly if that was the last time she'd hear from the Master Chief.

_**Ground side- Reach**_

The leading elements of Covenant infantry had started the attack, grunt squads led by jackal pairs to sort out any mines that might be around, followed by teams of assorted Elites, and sporadic clusters of Brutes, just to keep things interesting. The combined forces of the two ODST battalions, now barely one full one, were doing their level best to keep the aliens at bay, with the Spartans filling in the weak points, and manning heavy weapons to neutralize any armor or aircraft. So far the strategy was working, and the line held, but John was worried that no hunters, nor the expected Wraith tanks had shown up yet. The odd Ghost pair would make a run at them, usually taken out by a round from the Guass cannons, but they wouldn't be enough to take out a tank, not when he only had four of them.

"Columbia this is ground team, come in please."

"Ground this is Columbia, Commander Wills, how can I help you Chief?"

"I'm about to have an armored force assaulting the complex, do you have any anti-armor options available?"

"Tanks? 'bout the only thing I got for those would be archer missiles, or the Mac gun."

"Can you get a positive track on the enemy formation?"

"Negative Chief, too much interference from all the plasma fire, not to mention the nukes, you're going to have to mark your targets with laser sights the old fashioned way, only way I can put an archer on target, as for the MAC rounds, give me co-ordinates and I'll turn anything within half a kilometer into dust."

"Roger that Commander, Master Chief out."

They only had one laser sighter, the damned things were practically antiques, and it wouldn't be enough to have archer missiles come in one at a time, so that left the frigates main cannon, but a 500 pound ferric iron round, super heated almost to the temperature of a small sun by re-entry, would burn down the generators, and everyone around them, by the time he got close enough to sight in an artillery type co-ordinate strike. He'd simply have to fire random, and pray he got lucky.

Luck didn't seem to be with him for once, as motion sensors indicated that the Covenant main armor units were about to enter the kill zone, meaning it was now or never for orbital MAC rounds. If he fired now, there was a chance he doomed them all, if he waited, he definitely doomed them all.

"Columbia this is ground team, fire package uploading now, danger close, say again danger close, fire for effect."

"Roger that Chief, danger very close."

There was a low rumble, like distant thunder, that lasted a scarce ten seconds before the sky turned white as a plasma hot ball of burning metal screamed through the atmosphere at more than half the speed of light, followed closely by 24 burning streaks of what could only be archer missiles, each the size of a pelican. This dazzling image lasted half a second before the MAC round struck, emitting a white hot flash similar to that of a nuke, and no less deadly, the following missiles only served to cremate any remains.


End file.
